The 101st Infantry Division was a Territorial division (French: 101e Division d'Infanterie Territoriale, 101e DIT) during World War I, and a Fortress division (French: 101e Division d'Infanterie de Forteresse, 101e DIF) during World War II.

The division was formed on 25 May 1914, and was dissolved on 26 November 1916. During this time, it was part of the French 3rd, 8th, 31st and 33rd Corps (Corps d'Armée (CA)), which in turn were part of the French 1st and 2nd Armies.[1]

At the start of the German offensive on 10 May 1940, the 101st was assigned to the 5th Army Corps (motorized), 1st Army, 1st Army Group.[2] The division held a section of the Maginot Line near Clairfayts. The 7th Panzer Division broke through the sector of the 84th Regiment in a night assault on 16 May after "considerable resistance".[3]

1.
France
–
France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks

2.
World War I
–
World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany

3.
Battle of France
–
The Battle of France, also known as the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries in 1940 during the Second World War. Italy entered the war on 10 June 1940 and attempted an invasion of France, the German plan for the invasion of France consisted of two main operations. After the withdrawal of the BEF, the German forces began Fall Rot on 5 June, the sixty remaining French divisions made a determined resistance but were unable to overcome the German air superiority and armoured mobility. German tanks outflanked the Maginot Line and pushed deep into France, German forces occupied Paris unopposed on 14 June after a chaotic period of flight of the French government that led to a collapse of the French army. German commanders met with French officials on 18 June with the goal of forcing the new French government to accept an armistice that amounted to surrender and this led to the end of the French Third Republic. France was not liberated until the summer of 1944, in 1939, Britain and France offered military support to Poland in the likely case of a German invasion. In the dawn of 1 September 1939, the German Invasion of Poland began, France and the United Kingdom declared war on 3 September, after an ultimatum for German forces to immediately withdraw their forces from Poland was met without reply. Following this, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Canada, on 7 September, in accordance with their alliance with Poland, France began the Saar Offensive with an advance from the Maginot Line 5 km into the Saar. France had mobilised 98 divisions and 2,500 tanks against a German force consisting of 43 divisions, the French advanced until they met the then thin and undermanned Siegfried Line. On 17 September, the French supreme commander, Maurice Gamelin gave the order to withdraw French troops to their starting positions, following the Saar Offensive, a period of inaction called the Phoney War set in between the belligerents. Adolf Hitler had hoped that France and Britain would acquiesce in the conquest of Poland, on 6 October, he made a peace offer to both Western powers. On 9 October, Hitler issued a new Führer-Directive Number 6, the plan was based on the seemingly more realistic assumption that German military strength would have to be built up for several years. For the moment only limited objectives could be envisaged and were aimed at improving Germanys ability to survive a long war in the west. Hitler ordered a conquest of the Low Countries to be executed at the shortest possible notice to forestall the French and it would also provide the basis for a long-term air and sea campaign against Britain. On 10 October 1939, Britain refused Hitlers offer of peace and on 12 October, colonel-General Franz Halder, presented the first plan for Fall Gelb on 19 October. This was the codename of plans for a campaign in the Low Countries. Halders plan has been compared to the Schlieffen Plan, the given to the German strategy of 1914 in the First World War. It was similar in both plans entailed an advance through the middle of Belgium

4.
Division (military)
–
A division is a large military unit or formation, usually consisting of between 10,000 and 20,000 soldiers. Infantry divisions during the World Wars ranged between 10,000 and 30,000 in nominal strength, in most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades, in turn, several divisions typically make up a corps. In the West, the first general to think of organising an army into smaller units was Maurice de Saxe, Marshal General of France. He died at the age of 54, without having implemented his idea, victor-François de Broglie put the ideas into practice. He conducted successful practical experiments of the system in the Seven Years War. The first war in which the system was used systematically was the French Revolutionary War. It made the more flexible and easy to manoeuvre. Under Napoleon, the divisions were grouped together into corps, because of their increasing size, napoleons military success spread the divisional and corps system all over Europe, by the end of the Napoleonic Wars, all armies in Europe had adopted it. In modern times, most military forces have standardized their divisional structures, the peak use of the division as the primary combat unit occurred during World War II, when the belligerents deployed over a thousand divisions. With technological advances since then, the power of each division has increased. Divisions are often formed to organize units of a particular type together with support units to allow independent operations. In more recent times, divisions have mainly been organized as combined arms units with subordinate units representing various combat arms, in this case, the division often retains the name of a more specialized division, and may still be tasked with a primary role suited to that specialization. For the most part, large cavalry units did not remain after World War II, in general, two new types of cavalry were developed, air cavalry or airmobile, relying on helicopter mobility, and armored cavalry, based on an autonomous armored formation. The former was pioneered by the 11th Air Assault Division, formed on 1 February 1963 at Fort Benning, on 29 June 1965 the division was renamed as the 1st Cavalry Division, before its departure for the Vietnam War. After the end of the Vietnam War, the 1st Cavalry Division was reorganised and re-equipped with tanks, the development of the tank during World War I prompted some nations to experiment with forming them into division-size units. Many did this the way as they did cavalry divisions, by merely replacing cavalry with AFVs. This proved unwieldy in combat, as the units had many tanks, instead, a more balanced approach was taken by adjusting the number of tank, infantry, artillery, and support units. A panzer division was a division of the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS of Germany during World War II

5.
Reservist
–
A reservist is a person who is a member of a military reserve force. They are otherwise civilians, and in peacetime have careers outside the military, Reservists usually go for training on an annual basis to refresh their skills. This person is usually a former active-duty member of the armed forces, in some countries such as Israel, Norway, Singapore, and Switzerland, reservists are conscripted soldiers who are called up for training and service when necessary. The notion of a reservist has been around, in many forms, in ancient times, reservist forces such as the Anglo-Saxon Fyrd and the Viking Leidangr formed the main fighting strength of most armies. It was only at the end of the 17th century that professional standing armies became the norm, historically reservists played a significant role in Europe after the Prussian defeat in the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt. On 9 July 1807 in the Treaty of Tilsit, Napoleon forced Prussia to drastically reduce its military strength, the Prussian army could no longer be stronger than 42,000 men. With this the reduction of the armys strength did not have the desired effect, every conscript which has served at least a day in the Bundeswehr is a reservist, unless he is declared ineligible for military service or has made a claim of conscientious objection. Soldiers of enlisted ranks with a contract or professional soldiers. This is also the case for women, but on the basis of the Soldatengesetz, every soldier follows his rank with the initials d. R. So it does not affect whether the soldier is called up, placed in an inactive formation, only professional soldiers use the appellation a. D. d. R after the end of their service. All others strictly use d. R. until the end of their lives, Reservists are an integral part of the Bundeswehr. They are essential for the capability of the forces in time of war. Reservists can be active in the Bundeswehr in addition to their mandatory service and this mostly happens through military exercises or official events. Apart from that the Bundeswehr organises reservist unions as particularly representative supporting organisations of voluntarily reservist work, eligibility for compulsory military service for soldiers and other servicemen of low rank ends at the end of the 45th year of age. Thereafter the conscript is no part of the reserve. Despite that the appellations a. D. and/or d. R. may still be used, conscription for under-officers and officers lasts until the 60th year of age. Until the 32nd year of age every conscript is subject to military inspection, all conscripts who have not done their service belong to the Ersatzreserve. They must serve a mandatory two-year active period as Full-Time National Servicemen, deployed to the Singapore Armed Forces, Singapore Police Force, or the Singapore Civil Defence Force

6.
Belgium
–
Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a sovereign state in Western Europe bordered by France, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, and the North Sea. It is a small, densely populated country which covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres and has a population of about 11 million people. Additionally, there is a group of German-speakers who live in the East Cantons located around the High Fens area. Historically, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg were known as the Low Countries, the region was called Belgica in Latin, after the Roman province of Gallia Belgica. From the end of the Middle Ages until the 17th century, today, Belgium is a federal constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. It is divided into three regions and three communities, that exist next to each other and its two largest regions are the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in the north and the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia. The Brussels-Capital Region is a bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. A German-speaking Community exists in eastern Wallonia, Belgiums linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in its political history and complex system of governance, made up of six different governments. Upon its independence, declared in 1830, Belgium participated in the Industrial Revolution and, during the course of the 20th century, possessed a number of colonies in Africa. This continuing antagonism has led to several far-reaching reforms, resulting in a transition from a unitary to a federal arrangement during the period from 1970 to 1993. Belgium is also a member of the Eurozone, NATO, OECD and WTO. Its capital, Brussels, hosts several of the EUs official seats as well as the headquarters of major international organizations such as NATO. Belgium is also a part of the Schengen Area, Belgium is a developed country, with an advanced high-income economy and is categorized as very high in the Human Development Index. A gradual immigration by Germanic Frankish tribes during the 5th century brought the area under the rule of the Merovingian kings, a gradual shift of power during the 8th century led the kingdom of the Franks to evolve into the Carolingian Empire. Many of these fiefdoms were united in the Burgundian Netherlands of the 14th and 15th centuries, the Eighty Years War divided the Low Countries into the northern United Provinces and the Southern Netherlands. The latter were ruled successively by the Spanish and the Austrian Habsburgs and this was the theatre of most Franco-Spanish and Franco-Austrian wars during the 17th and 18th centuries. The reunification of the Low Countries as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands occurred at the dissolution of the First French Empire in 1815, although the franchise was initially restricted, universal suffrage for men was introduced after the general strike of 1893 and for women in 1949. The main political parties of the 19th century were the Catholic Party, French was originally the single official language adopted by the nobility and the bourgeoisie

7.
Maginot Line
–
A response to Frances experience in World War I, the Maginot Line was constructed in the run-up to World War II, after the Locarno Conference gave rise to a fanciful and optimistic Locarno spirit. Nevertheless, it proved ineffective during the Battle of France. Instead of attacking directly, the Germans invaded through the Low Countries, however, the French line was weak near the Ardennes forest, a region whose rough terrain they considered unlikely for the Germans to traverse. The German Army took advantage of this point to split the French–British defensive front. The Allied forces to the north were forced to evacuate at Dunkirk, having failed in its purpose, the line has since become a metaphor for expensive efforts that offer a false sense of security. The defences were first proposed by Marshal Joffre and he was opposed by modernists such as Paul Reynaud and Charles de Gaulle who favoured investment in armour and aircraft. Joffre had support from Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain, and there were a number of reports and it was André Maginot who finally convinced the government to invest in the scheme. Maginot was another veteran of World War I, he became the French Minister of Veteran Affairs, in January 1923 after Germany defaulted on reparations, the French Premier Raymond Poincaré had French troops march in and occupy the Ruhr region of Germany in response. The British—who openly championed the German position on reparations—applied intense economic pressure on France to change its policies towards Germany. The British diplomat Sir Eric Phipps who attended the conference commented afterwards that, from 1871 onwards, French elites had concluded that France had no hope of defeating Germany on its own, and France would need an alliance with another great power to defeat the Reich. A variant of the Foch plan had used by Poincaré in 1923 when he ordered the French occupation of the Ruhr. French plans for an offensive in the 1920s were realistic, as Versailles had forbidden Germany conscription, French military chiefs were dubious about their ability to win another war against Germany on its own, especially an offensive war. France had an alliance with Belgium and with the states of the Cordon sanitaire, the French assumption was always that Germany would not go to war without conscription, which would allow the German Army to take advantage of the Reichs numerical superiority. Without the natural defensive barrier provided by the Rhine river, French generals argued that France needed a new defensive barrier made of concrete and steel to replace it. Part of the rationale for the Maginot Line stemmed from the severe French losses during the First World War, and their effect on the French population. The drop in the birth rate during and after the war, resulting in a shortage of young men. Static defensive positions were intended not only to buy time but to economise on men by defending an area with fewer. Germany had the largest economy in Europe but lacked many of the raw materials necessary for an industrial economy

8.
7th Panzer Division (Wehrmacht)
–
The 7th Panzer Division was an armored formation of the German Army in World War II. It participated in the Battle of France, the invasion of the Soviet Union, the occupation of Vichy France, the division fought successfully in France in 1940, and then again in the Soviet Union in 1941. In May 1942, the division was withdrawn from the Soviet Union and sent back to France to replace losses and refit. The division fought in the offensive at Kursk in the summer of 1943, suffering heavy losses in men. Through 1944 and 1945, the division was understrength and continuously engaged in a series of defensive battles across the eastern front. It was twice evacuated by sea, leaving what was left of its equipment behind each time. After fighting defensively across Prussia and northern Germany, the men escaped into the forest. In October 1939, the 2nd Light Division became the 7th Panzer Division and it consisted of 218 tanks in three battalions, with two rifle regiments, a motorcycle battalion, an engineer battalion, and an anti-tank battalion. Newly promoted General Erwin Rommel, who had served on Hitlers staff during the Invasion of Poland, was able, with an intervention from Hitler, upon taking command on 10 February 1940, Rommel quickly set his unit to practicing the maneuvers they would need in the upcoming campaign. The invasion began on 10 May 1940, Rommel was active in the forward areas, directing the efforts to make a crossing, which were initially unsuccessful due to suppressive fire by the French on the other side of the river. By 16 May the division had reached his objective at Avesnes. On 20 May the division reached Arras, General Hermann Hoth received orders that the town should be bypassed and its British garrison thus isolated. He ordered the 5th Panzer Division to move to the west and 7th Panzer Division to the east, the following day the British launched a counterattack, deploying two infantry battalions supported by heavily armoured Matilda Mk I and Matilda II tanks in the Battle of Arras. The German 37 mm anti-tank gun proved ineffective against the heavily armoured Matildas, the 25th Panzer Regiment and a battery of 88 mm anti-aircraft guns were called in to support, and the British withdrew. On 24 May, Hitler issued a halt order, the reason for this decision is still a matter of debate. He may have overestimated the size of the British forces in the area, the halt order was lifted on 26 May. 7th Panzer continued its advance, reaching Lille on 27 May, for the assault, Hoth placed the 5th Panzer Division under Rommels command. The Siege of Lille continued until 31 May, when the French garrison of 40,000 men surrendered

9.
French Army
–
The French Army, officially the Land Army is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. Along with the French Air Force, the French Navy and the National Gendarmerie, the current Chief of Staff of the French Army is General Jean-Pierre Bosser, a direct subordinate of the Chief of the Defence Staff. All soldiers are considered professionals following the suspension of conscription, voted in parliament in 1997, as of 2014, the French Army employed 111,628 personnel. In addition, the element of the French Army consisted of 15,453 personnel of the Operational Reserve. The Kings of France needed reliable troops during and after the Hundred Years War and these units of troops were raised by issuing ordonnances to govern their length of service, composition and payment. These Compagnies dordonnance formed the core of the Gendarme Cavalry into the sixteenth century, stationed throughout France and summoned into larger armies as needed. There was also made for Francs-archers units of bowmen and foot soldiers raised from the non-noble classes. The bulk of the infantry for warfare was still provided by urban or provincial militias, raised from an area or city to fight locally and named for their recruiting grounds. Gradually these units became more permanent, and in 1480s Swiss instructors were recruited and these men would be paid and contracted and receive training. Henry II further regularised the French army by forming standing Infantry regiments to replace the Militia structure, the first of these the Régiments de Picardie, Piémont, Navarre and Champagne were called the Les Vieux Corps. It was normal policy to disband regiments after a war was over as a cost saving measure with the Vieux Corps and the Kings own Household Troops the Maison du Roi being the only survivors. Regiments could be raised directly by the King and so called after the region in which they were raised, or by the nobility and so called after the noble or his appointed colonel. In 1684 there was a reorganisation of the French infantry and again in 1701 to fit in with Louis XIVs plans. This reshuffle created many of the regiments of the French Army and standardised their equipment. The army of the Sun King tended to wear coats with coloured linings. There were exceptions and the troops, recruited from outside France. In addition to these regiments of the line the Maison du Roi provided several elite units, the Swiss Guards, French Guards, the revolution split the army with the main mass losing most of its officers to aristocratic flight or guillotine and becoming demoralised and ineffective. The French Guard joined the revolt and the Swiss Guards were massacred during the storming of the Tuileries palace, under Napoleon I, the French Army conquered most of Europe during the Napoleonic Wars

10.
1st Armored Division (France)
–
The 1st Armored Division is a unit of the French Army formed during World War II. Dissolved for a first time in 1946, the unit was recreated in 1948 and it was again dissolved in 1999 with the cadre of the professionalization of the French Military. The 1st Mechanised Brigade, created on July 1,1999, the 1re BM was again dissolved on July 21,2015. The 1st Division was recreated in 2016, the 1st Armored Division was created on May 1,1943. It was dissolved on March 31,1946, the 1st Armored Division was recreated in 1948. On July 1,1999, the 1st Mechanised Brigade inherited the traditions of the division, the 1st Mechanised Brigade was dissolved on July 21,2015. The 1st Division was recreated on July 1,2016 part of the Scorpion Force alongside the 3rd Division, the motto of the division, Nomine et Virtute Prima, translates literally to La première par le nom et la valeur in French, The first in designation and worth. The choice of the insignia, the cross of Saint Louis by général Jean Touzet du Vigier, comes from the place of formation of the unit, Tunisia, the division is known and referred to as division Saint-Louis. The division was cited three times at the orders of the forces during the Second World War. In 1943, a French armed force was formed in North Africa, the unit was equipped with modern equipment coming from the United States, and the program anticipated the constitution of several armed divisions. S. American norms, in three tactical groupments, baptized by the Americans as Combat Command, under these designations the three French divisions engaged in operations from 1944 to 1945. Within this context, the 1st Armored Division 1st DB was formed on May 1,1943, the division was heir to the Light Mechanic Brigade which combat engaged in Tunisia. On January 28,1943, général du Vigier took command of this unit in formation and he had left the command of the BLM to général Brossin de Saint-Didier and installed his command post in Mascara where the training center for armored brigades garrisoned. In the coming months of May 1943 joined transmission and services, in August, the train and a squadron group reinforced immediately. Then, the 2nd African Chasseur doubled to form 2nd Tank-Cuirassiers Regiment, the latter had just been promoted to a divisional general on August 25, and all the forces which were under his disposition were grouped around Mascara. The 2nd Zouaves Regiment disappeared and was replaced, as the infantry of the division, the division assumed position within the ranks of the 1st Army then designate as Army B and which would participate to the disembarking of Provence. The first embarking commenced in Oran and Mers-el-Kébir at the end of the month of July 1944, the Naval ships lifted anchors on August 10 and 11. The disembarking should have taken lieu between Saint-Tropez and Saint-Raphaël, at the dawn of August 15, an enormous naval fleet was assembled north-west of Corsica steering and heading north

11.
2nd Armored Division (France)
–
The French 2nd Armored Division, commanded by General Philippe Leclerc, fought during the final phases of World War II in the Western Front. The divisions 14,454 personnel included men from the 2nd Light Division, escapees from metropolitan France, about 3,600 Moroccans and Algerians and about 350 Spanish Republicans. Other sources give about 2,000, official records of the 2e DB show fewer than 300 Spaniards as they hid their nationality, the division embarked in April 1944 and shipped to various ports in Britain. On 29 July 1944, bound for France, the division embarked at Southampton, during combat in 1944, the division liberated Paris, defeated a Panzer brigade during the armored clashes in Lorraine, forced the Saverne Gap and liberated Strasbourg. They all but destroyed the 9th Panzer Division and defeated several other German units, during the Battle for Normandy, the 2nd Division lost 133 men killed,648 wounded, and 85 missing. Division material losses included 76 armored vehicles,7 cannons,27 halftracks, the most celebrated moment in the units history was the Liberation of Paris. Eisenhower agreed to let the French armored division and the U. S. 4th Infantry Division liberate Paris. In the early morning of 23 August, Leclercs 2e DB left the south of Argentan on its march to Paris, a march which was slowed by poor conditions, French crowds. On 24 August, General Leclerc sent an advance party to enter the city. This party, commanded by Captain Raymond Dronne, consisted of the 9th company of the 3rd Battalion of the Régiment de marche du Tchad. Dronne and his men arrived at the Hôtel de Ville, in the center of Paris, on 25 August, the 2nd Armored and the U. S. 4th Division entered Paris and liberated it. After hard fighting that cost the 2nd Division 35 tanks,6 self-propelled guns, and 111 vehicles, von Choltitz, the German military governor of Paris, capitulated at the Hôtel Meurice. The following day,26 August, a victory parade took place on the Champs Élysées, which was lined with a jubilant crowd acclaiming General de Gaulle. The 2nd Division later fought in the battles in Lorraine. Subsequently, the 2nd Division operated with U. S. forces during the assault into the Vosges Mountains, the Presidential Unit Citation was awarded to the division for this action. Fighting in Alsace until the end of February 1945, the 2nd Division was deployed to reduce the Royan Pocket on the western coast of France in March–April 1945. After forcing the Germans in the Royan Pocket to surrender on 18 April 1945, eventually, the 2nd Division finished its campaigning at the Nazi resort town of Berchtesgaden in Southeastern Germany. According to Defence Historical Service, the unit counted 1,224 dead and 5,257 wounded at the end of the campaign in northwestern Europe

12.
10th Parachute Division (France)
–
The 10th Parachute Division was a formation of the French Army, part of the French Airborne Units. It consisted predominantly of infantry troops and it specialized in airborne combat and air assault. Established in 1956, it primarily in the Suez Crisis. It was dissolved immediately after the Algiers putsch of 1961, on July 1,1956, the 10e D. P. Barely created, the 10e D. P. took part in the Suez Crisis in Egypt, the 10e D. P was reinforced for this purpose with, One squadron of the 2nd Foreign Cavalry Regiment comprising 148 men and 17 AMX-13. Although the battle was a success, allied troops had to withdrawn due to pressure from the United States. In Algiers, the National Liberation Front was carrying out a wave of terrorist attacks an urban guerilla which made many casualties, in January 1957, Robert Lacoste, Minister Resident in Algeria, reacted by giving full powers to General Massu over the Algiers area. Massu sent the 10e D. P. to search out, arrest, the battle of Algiers proved to be a clear success for the French military, with most prominent FLN leaders killed or arrested and terrorist attacks effectively stopped. However, the use of torture against some FLN members led to an opposition to war in France. In 1956, the newly independent Republic of Tunisia was helping the FLN by smuggling weapons, the electrified fence known as the Morice Line was built up to prevent Algerian FLN guerrillas from entering the French colony of Algeria from Tunisia. The 10e D. P. was assigned to the surveillance of a portion of the electrified border, the Morice Line had a significant impact of the reduction of guerrillas activities by forces that originated from Tunisia. However, general Massu, the officer of the 10e D. P. was relieved of his command as he criticized president Charles de Gaulles actions. Despite the military successes, French Prime Minister Michel Debrés government started secret negotiations with the anti-colonialist FLN in order to grant independence to Algeria, French settlers and soldiers were stunned by this decision and a putsch was organized in Algiers. With the exception of the 3e RPIMa, the rest of the 10e D. P. supported the coup. When the putsch failed the 25e D. P. along with the 10e D. P. were dissolved and the 1er R. E. P was the only regiment disbanded. Except for the Legionnaires of the 1e REP that conserve the Green Beret, the Archangel Saint Michael, patron of the French paratroopers is celebrated on September 29. The prière du Para was written by André Zirnheld in 1938, just like the paratrooper Brevet of the French Army, the Insignia of French Paratroopers was created in 1946. The French Army Insignia of metropolitan Paratroopers represents a closed <<winged armed dextrochere>>, the Insignia makes reference to the Patron of Paratroopers